The New Ant-Man: Origin Story
by gelahope
Summary: Scott Lang is a normal man, an electrical engineer working for Stark Industries who keeps to himself and tries to make a good life for his daughter, Cassie. But when Cassie's heart condition takes a turn for the worse, he will do anything - including turning back to his old life of crime - to keep her alive.


**Disclaimer:**

**I do not own any rights to Marvel or Ant-Man in anyway. I'm just messing around with its characters.**

**Rating:**

**T for Teen due to some mild violence and intense scenes.**

**Notes:**

**Ant-Man FanFic. This is just a short story containing something similar to my wish list for what I hope is included in the Ant-Man movie coming out in 2015. Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

"See you Monday!" Scott said with a smile and a wave as he passed by the sleek receptionist's desk on his way out of the equally sleek looking lobby of Stark Industries.

"Bye, Scott!" the blonde behind the counter replied, flashing a sweet smile back at him. "Have fun with your daughter this weekend!"

"I plan on it!" he turned back to respond, before exiting through the glass doors and onto a busy New York street.

With the sound of honking horns and distant sirens as his accompaniment, Scott turned and set off toward the nearby subway entrance. People looked at him strangely as he walked, which he had grown used to over the past few months. Ever since he got the job at Stark Industries as an electrical engineer, he had a smile plastered on his face almost constantly and had definitely developed a spring in his step everywhere he went.

He knew how lucky he was, being an ex-convict, to have a job that paid him so well. To have a job that utilized his expertise as an electrical engineer, and for a very prominent company as well. After being released from prison, he had expected to end up working fast food or doing hard manual labor basically for breadcrumbs the rest of his life. Obviously, he didn't get paid quite as well as the engineers with no criminal background, but it didn't matter to him. It was enough.

Enough to rent a little studio apartment within walking distance from his work. Enough to put food on the table, and enough to be able to have his daughter on the weekends and take her to various fun activities around the city. This weekend he was planning to take her to an amusement park in Coney Island.

Yep, for a change, life was good.

Before he knew it, he was already hiking up the stairs to his ex-wife's flat, and by the time he knocked on the door his insides were positively buzzing with excitement. After only a moment, it swung open and he saw his little blonde-haired pig-tailed girl smiling up at him. "Hi, Daddy!" she said happily and she flew forward and flung her arms around his waist.

"Hi, Cassie!" he said as he hugged her tightly back. "Are you all ready to go?"

"Yep!" she exclaimed as she spun around to show off the pink and purple backpack she was wearing. "Let's go!"

"Hold on now, hold on," he stopped her as she tried to hurry passed him. "Where's your mom?"

She rolled her eyes and then turned to call into the doorway, "Mom! Dad's here, we're leaving!"

"Wait!" came a muffled shout from another room. Shortly after, a dark-haired beauty came jogging out of the side-room. Scott tried not to notice how pretty she looked with her hair all done up in curls. He looked up as if the light fixture in the hallway suddenly became very fascinating. "You almost forgot this," she said as she held out her hand toward her daughter. It was a little pink stethoscope.

Cassie stomped her foot in protest. "Aw, do I have to? It's only for the weekend!"

"Now, now," Scott replied, taking the stethoscope from her. "You know we have to check your heart every single day. No exceptions."

"Fine," she mumbled, folding her arms defiantly.

"I checked it this morning and at lunch and she's holding steady at about 120," her mother said to Scott. "So just check it again before bed, okay?"

"I know the routine," Scott said with a slightly defensive tone. "I am her father you know."

"I know," she responded, although Scott could have sworn that she rolled her eyes. "So you'll have her back-"

"Sunday night at eight o'clock. I know," he said defensively again. Scott looked at his daughter with a smile as she pulled on his arm, tugging him toward the staircase. "Say bye to Mommy."

"Bye, Mommy!" she said hastily, continuing to yank on Scott's wrist.

"Bye, sweetie. Have fun," she responded, but she didn't sound like she meant it.

Scott turned to say goodbye to her, but the door slammed shut before he was able to. He lead his daughter down the steps with a smile, now holding her hand, but couldn't stop himself from thinking about where his marriage had gone wrong.

When they had first gotten married, they were completely in love. If someone had told Scott that they wouldn't be together in ten years, he never would have believed them. But at the time, Scott was still in school and money was hard to come by. They both worked hard to make ends meet and they did manage, but that all changed when Cassie came into the picture. Scott had graduated but still hadn't found a job yet, and on top of that his wife had a tough pregnancy and had to quit her own job. Then when Cassie finally came into the picture, she had a heart condition. That meant special doctors, and piles upon piles of hospital debt.

Scott felt the pressure to start bringing in the money, but no one seemed to want to hire an electrical engineer fresh out of college. That lead him to making the biggest mistake of his life. When a man approached him about using his electrical expertise to break him into a high-security vault and offered him a large cut of the money to do so, he accepted. He created a device to bypass electrical security systems without setting off any alarms, and all of a sudden the jobs, and the money, started to roll in.

He was able to pay off all of his daughter's hospital bills, and have plenty left over for a comfortable lifestyle. He managed this for about three years, all the while telling his wife that he had simply found a good job. But when shady characters started coming around their home, threatening him, wanting to use his device... She got suspicious. It wasn't long after that when he got caught. To this day Scott can't be entirely certain that his own wife didn't turn him in, but he made the decision not to care whether she did or not.

He missed out on five years of his daughter's life. Five long years in prison - a reduced sentence after making a deal with the DA and ratting out everyone he had ever worked with. It was thanks to that deal that he was able to roam free now without anyone hounding him for his device - everyone who knew of it was now incarcerated. Not that it mattered, since he had destroyed it long ago. But his marriage had ended while he was locked up, and he had many scars, both physical and emotional, from the time he served.

"Daddy are you ok?" Cassie furrowed her eyebrows as she looked up at Scott. He was shocked from his thoughts and returned to reality, realizing that they were already standing on the subway which was speeding along the tracks.

Scott smiled and squeezed Cassie's hand tightly before leaning over and kissing it tenderly. "Yeah, baby, I'm ok," he replied. "Just thinking, that's all."

Cassie smiled, "Ok! So what are we doing this weekend?"

Scott's smiled turned sheepish. "Hmm, I don't know, I didn't plan anything. Maybe we will just sit around my apartment all day."

Cassie pouted her lip out unhappily in response to this.

"Okay, okay, I have something planned. But it's a surprise!" he grinned goofily.

Cassie smiled. "I love surprises!"

"I know you do, baby," he said as the subway came to a stop and everyone began to file out onto the platform. Scott held Cassie's hand close to him and guided her through the mass of people heading for the stairwell. They clambered up the stairs as well, and turned down the street to begin walking to his apartment.

But as they walked along the sidewalk, suddenly Scott felt his hand catch with Cassie's, and it caused him to stop and look at her. She was looking down at the ground and said nothing.

"What's wrong, baby?" he said, squatting down to her level.

She slowly looked up at him and rubbed her eyes. "I'm tired," she said quietly.

Scott looked at his watch. It was only just after six. He supposed she must be tired from the walking, so he scooped her up into his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder while he continued to walk.

Cassie almost immediately fell asleep, and it was silent for the rest of his short journey. Upon reaching his apartment building, he felt around in his front pocket for his keys and pulled them out, but one of the keys snagged on the edge of his jeans and he accidentally dropped them onto the concrete. With Cassie in one arm, he squatted down as far as he could and reached out for his keys with his free hand, but Cassie shifted and began to fall backward out of his arms.

Instinctively, he threw his free arm back up and caught her, but horror fell over him as he looked over his daughter's face. Her lips were purple, and her face was beginning to turn blue.

"Cassie!" he shook her slightly while he shouted, attempting to wake her up. "Cassie!" he tried again desperately, but her body remained lifeless.


End file.
